


White Fur

by CrazyCatMeow



Series: The Meteor Effect [24]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Claws, Decked Out, Fluff, Fox - Freeform, Fox Tails, Fox ears, Gen, Illusions, Instinct, Kitsune, Pranks, Sweet Berries, Werewolf, fangs, full transformation, hunting instincts, take Exy’s laser pointer away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:29:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26875963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyCatMeow/pseuds/CrazyCatMeow
Summary: It’s Etho’s turn to be effected.
Relationships: Friends - Relationship, nope
Series: The Meteor Effect [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529078
Comments: 106
Kudos: 186





	1. Ears and Tails

**Author's Note:**

> It’s Etho’s Turn

Etho hums as he quietly works on his Redstone. It has been going pretty well so far and aside from a few small hiccups, everything‘s running smoothly. It’s a fairly simple contraption. He’s making a door today and while it’s fairly useless as he doesn’t really have walls it’s the principal. It’s a pretty fun design with a few bits that make it look a lot fancier than it is.

Grinning Etho tries the door. With a wince he hurriedly covers his ears, “That was loud,” he murmurs to himself. Before shrugging and getting back to work, every so often wincing at loud sounds. He just brushes it off as feeling kinda off that day and continues working. 

As he works his communicator starts buzzing with an important message. Unfortunately, it's located in a completely different area of his base so he doesn’t hear it. He really should keep it close by, but in his excitement, he had forgotten it. 

It’s really unfortunate that he doesn’t hear the device going off. It’s a server alert message from Doc, saying the meteor’s active once again and telling them to be on the lookout. He also asks everyone to confirm that they’ve received the message. Everyone save for Etho responds. Doc smiles to himself and sends a message saying that he would go and check on him.

As Doc draws near he furrows his eyebrows, something’s off. He can’t quite place a finger on it but something about the ninja is different.

With a slightly startled hiss, he realizes. Where are his ears? Walking up to Etho Doc realizes. He’s got fox ears, and they perfectly match his hair, “Are you ok?” Doc asks clearly referring to the ears.

“Uh, yeah why wouldn’t I be?”

It dawns on Doc that Etho might not have noticed what’s happening, “The meteor’s active again,” Doc says slowly, “You didn’t respond to the message so I came by to check on you.”

“You really didn’t have to, you have more important things to do than to sit around and talk to me. You could be figuring out who’s getting affected.”

Internally Doc screams as he fully realizes that Etho has no idea that he’s been affected. He quickly thinks of a way to tell him that wouldn’t be overly exaggerated, “I was worried that you never responded. I thought you had been affected.”

“Me? Nah, I would tell you immediately if I got affected,” Etho states matter-of-factly.

Somehow Doc manages not to burst out laughing at the total absurdity of the situation. That plans out the window, “I’m sure you would.”

One of the ears twitches and Etho runs a hand through his hair, “You look really stressed.”

Doc smiles, “I’m a little overworked from the meteor stuff,” the creeper admits as he sits on the edge of the small pit Etho’s working in.

Etho hums, somehow not noticing his ears pinning back against his head in concern, “Do you want to hangout?”

With a slightly off grin the creeper nods and helps Etho clamber out of the hole. “Do you want to head over to my base?”

“Sure,” Etho chirps as he pulls his mask down to drink some water.

As the pair head for the Goat Father’s base, Etho pushes up his headband and his fingers almost brush his ears. 

Doc progressively gets more and more stressed about how to tell him, until he decides to see just how long this can go on without Etho noticing. He sends a message to the others telling them what had happened and that Etho somehow didn’t realize that he had fox ears.

Zedaph immediately sends a message back, “To be fair sometimes you don’t realize your ears have changed.”

Tango: I remember that

Impulse: That was funny

Zedaph: Hush you. I was very confused.

DocM77: Did anyone else not realize they were being affected?

Beef: Sorta, I thought my hair getting a more fur-like texture was it just being fluffy for some reason.

Grian: Who dyed my sweater blue?

Grian: sorry...

Stress: Is Etho ok?

DocM77: He’s fine for now I’m taking him to my base. 

Xisuma: does he know that he’s affected?

DocM77: I don't think so, he could be messing with us but I don’t want him panicking either.

The conversation ends here and they start placing bets on how long it would take for him to realize. The shortest being an hour and the longest being a week.

Biffa admits that he found a blue sweater in the same style as Grian’s and had dropped it off in the bird’s base a few days ago after he had finished adjusting it for wings. Grian then thanks him for the new sweater.”

…….

As Etho is getting ready to leave Doc’s base; Beef, and Bdubs show up. He’s a little confused as to why they’ve shown up but overall he’s not complaining, he’s surrounded by his friends, what could go wrong. 

Bdubs gives him a sharp-toothed grin as he pulls him back down into Docs basement with a deck of playing cards, “We haven’t had the chance to talk for a while,” He explains as he pushes his glasses to the top of his head. His green eyes sparkling with excitement.

“We really should talk more often,” Beef remarks as he carefully grips the wall and very carefully makes his way down the stairs. He can’t really see the ground so stairs are an unfortunate hazard.

As they enter the game room in the basement, Doc looks up and rolls his eyes, “You couldn’t resist could you?”

“Nope,” Beef laughs as he carefully lays down on a couch. The others gather around and they start playing card games. Bdubs is stretched out halfway under the table his tail flicking every once in a while.

Etho barks out a laugh as he wins yet another round; one of his ears twitches, “I guess you just can't beat me.” 

“I guess we can’t,” Beef says as he stands up. Everyone starts heading towards Joe’s portal. They’ve agreed to walk over there together, then head their separate ways.

As they pass by the sweet berry field Etho gets distracted and walks over to the prickly bushes. 

“Etho, what are you doing?” Beef asks as he walks up to the oblivious fox.

“I don’t know how I never noticed this,” Etho mutters as he eats some of the sweet berries.”

Yawning Bdubs asks, “What didn’t you notice?”

“They're so good,” Etho chirps as he walks further into the field.

Rolling his eyes Doc calls after him, “Etho come back here.”

One of his ears flattens against his head as he ignores Doc’s call in favor of exploring. Hearing all the commotion, Joe runs outside and over to the NHO

“Howdy, what can I do for you?” He happily beams at his visitors.

“Hey, Joe, sorry about this,” Doc motions to Etho who’s sitting happily in the field surrounded by berries, “We’ll get him out of your stuff.”

Joe laughs, “He’s fine I’m happy to share. He can have as many berries as he wants.”

“Thanks,” Beef says as he kneels down letting Bdubs climb onto his back as he falls asleep. He nods to Doc and starts walking over to the slumbering phantom’s base.

“My pleasure, I’ve got more than I know what to do with,” Joe nods and disappears back into his winery.

Eventually, Doc gets fed up and walks into the field himself to pull Etho out.

Etho looks like a kicked puppy as Doc drags him to the nether portal, “Doc, why?”

“Because I have things to do today.”

“You know you don’t have to hang around with me,” Etho jokes.

Doc grins, “But I do.”

Etho stares blankly at him for a minute, “Do you want to make a sweet berry farm?”

“Eh, why not. Let’s do it.”

The two redstoners rush around gathering supplies and some foxes for the farm. Etho chooses a spot near his ice farm to construct the berry farms. 

As they work Etho starts to feel kinda weird, almost like his energy was being sapped away. He yawns and brushes it off and keeps working.

……..

Etho and Doc work late into the night. The basic outline of the farm is nearly complete. They continue work until a message from Bdubs comes through, saying they should sleep.

The next morning they get right back into the work. As Etho stands from crawling around placing the mine carts down his back makes a horrific cracking sound.

Doc’s head snaps over his eye filled with concern, “Are you ok?”

“I'm fine, I probably just need to stretch more often.”

Doc nods but starts keeping an eye out for something else happening. Almost an hour later it makes itself known. Etho’s stumbling and tripping all over the place and honestly, it’s pretty concerning. 

“Hey, Doc? Is this looking good?” Etho calls over as he’s crouched by some blocks for the exterior of the farm. 

Doc wanders over and looks the block pallet over, “That looks awesome.”

Etho looks over grinning at Doc before returning to his work. 

The snowy ground crunches behind him, as he turns to look one of his ears smacks him in the face. With a panicked yelp, he falls to the icy ground clutching at his ears. He scrambles to his feet and over to Doc.

“Doc, we might have a problem…” As he says this his breath catches in his throat, as he stifles a scream. His back explodes in pain as his tailbone splits into two. 

Cursing under his breath Doc catches him and pushes him just inside the nether portal. Etho whimpers as his evident tails grow longer and slightly thicker, when the tails get a bit longer than his legs they stop growing.

Fur swiftly overtakes them as Etho grunts in pain. The tails are pure white except for their tips which are a light gray. The tails are extremely fluffy and almost look too big for his body.

As Etho struggles to stand without holding the wall Doc gently helps him get over to his base. They have to stop several times as Etho isn’t walking very well. He keeps tripping and over-compensating for the added weight. 

Etho has a somewhat pained expression, as he thinks, Doc clearly knew he was affected so why didn’t he say anything?

They reach someone’s nether hub and take a few minutes to see how much Etho can control the tails. He can’t really stand on his own and the tails seem to be reacting more to emotions than to what he wants them to do.

He reaches back and touches the tail, “Oh,” he whispers, “It’s soft.”

Doc looks up from his communicator, “May I?” He asks as he reaches towards Etho’s tails.

Nodding Etho lets him carefully touch the fluffy appendages.

“I think you deserve an explanation,” Doc starts, “When you said you would have noticed if you had been affected, your ears had changed. I didn’t want to say otherwise so I didn’t say anything.”

Etho nods still a bit hurt that no one had told him, he carefully rubs his ears. His tails are pulled onto his lap as he carefully brushes the fur, “I get that, but you could have put mirrors around or something.”

“I should have,” Doc sighs as he helps Etho stand and helps him back to his base.

“Yeah,” Etho says as he almost steps on his tail. Doc smiles at him before helping him through the nether portal and into his base. 

Etho yawns as he grips the wall and shuffles towards his room, “We’ll finish this in the morning.”

“It’s like noon?” Doc hisses confused.

“I’m going to sleep, we’ll finish this in the morning.”

Doc shrugs and lets him be. He wanders over to Xisuma’s base to check on Exy. Before heading back to Etho’s base to check on him. He’s fast asleep, his tails wrapped around himself like a blanket. Doc yawns and decides to give in to being semi nocturnal for a while wouldn’t hurt and he falls asleep.

……..

It’s a few days later and Etho has forgiven Doc for not telling him about his ears. Since it did take him quite a while to notice that he had fox ears, he agrees to be supervised. If he didn’t notice his ears for over a day who knows what kind of trouble he can get himself into. 

It took quite a lot of practice, but Etho’s tails are causing a lot fewer problems. He learns how to walk. That took a lot of trial and error to get right. The process involved much tripping over things and some amounts of pain to the foreign limbs. Whether it be them getting stepped on or shut into doors the tails suffered quite a bit of unintentional abuse.

Another part of having such fluffy tails is the time spent taking care of them. To maintain proper hygiene they need brushing, washing, drying, and fluffing. The first time the tails get washed goes about as well as one would expect. Horribly. Etho had gotten quite a few thorns and leaves caught in the thick fur. Doc and Beef manage to corner him and drag him over to his base where Beef teaches him how to take care of his tail and properly manage his fur.

That all happened days ago and now Etho’s going to meet up with Bdubs in a few minutes to work on the Netherlands gaming district. Etho had contracted Bdubs to do the grand entrance and would be accompanying him. For both protection and company.

As expected the phantom is right where they said they'd meet, he’s currently trying to sleep, but Scar is there and keeps stealing his blankets. The Vex is startled by Etho and flits up before landing on his head.

“Hey, Etho. Woah, your fur is super soft,” The Vex murmurs quietly, as he talks, Bdubs mockingly glares at Scar sticking out his tongue before curling up and falling asleep. His sleep sequence only lasts around thirty minutes so they don’t really mind waiting,

“Thanks?” Etho mutters, “I'm still pretty confused about everything.”

Scar nods, “Yeah, it doesn't make sense… and you’ve got two tails, how’s that treating you?”

Etho groans and carefully shakes his head, “It sucks, I don’t have much control over them. Thankfully they’re mostly floof so it’s not too bad.”

The conversation continues for a few more minutes until Bdubs wakes up. Then they bid Scar farewell and head over to the Netherlands. 

As Bdubs excitedly explains his idea Etho grins.

“Man, that sounds awesome.”

“I know, a train shooting out from the nether into the sky. It’s going to look awesome,” As he speaks his tail flips excitedly.

Etho nods, ”let’s get started.”

The pair get to work, Bdubs starts on the overworld segment and Etho starts work in the nether. As he works in the tunnel he gets kinda an odd feeling. It’s almost like some sort of extra energy, it’s unnoticeable at first but it slowly increases. Carefully looking around his tails twitch in excitement. He crouches near the ground and swats at a stray piece of ash floating lazily towards the ground. 

As he realizes what he's doing he quickly finishes up and swiftly runs through the nether portal. He almost stumbles as he walks out. He wasn’t quite expecting there to be a hole. Jumping out of the vertical train car, he almost trips over one of his tails; in saving his face from hitting the ground he steps on the tail. Yelping softly he draws the injured limb up to his chest. 

Looking around Etho spots Bdubs. Who is completely passed out. He’s curled against a wall and has wrapped himself in blankets. Smiling softly Etho walks over and carefully puts a shulker down next to him. 

Digging around for a moment he finds a pile of blankets. His grin shifts under his mask from a well-meaning friend to something more chaotic. One by one he carefully drapes the blankets over Bdubs.

As he adds more blankets he yawns; ever since this started it seems that he’s getting tired earlier. He adds a few more before curling up next to Bdubs. With a yawn, he falls asleep.

Stretching Bdubs squints at the added weight of the blankets. He pushes them off and frowns when a particularly fluffy one swings back and lays across his chest.

Blinking slowly he realizes that’s not a blanket, “Etho.”

The fox groggily picks his head up, “Hm, yeah?”

“Did you do this?”

His ears flatten against his head in guilt, “Yeah…”

Bdubs face stretches into a smile, standing he pulls Etho into a hug, “You’re fine, thanks for the extra blankets. Your tail is really soft by the way.”

Under his mask, Etho blushes and laughs, “Sorry about that.”


	2. Foxes

The bright lights of Three Fox hole glitter under the moonlight. Etho’s been staying with Beef for a few days just to make sure he doesn’t get hurt or stuck anywhere. It doesn’t help that Doc thinks the meteor is going to spike soon. As such Etho has been staying with various hermits for his safety. 

Yawning he slowly stretches out. He’s been slightly achy all day. He doesn’t mention anything to Beef about it. Thinking it’s just from the cold weather, so Etho just sticks it out and doesn’t mention it. Not wanting Beef to worry for nothing, that would just stress him out. 

They’d gone looking for striders earlier so they are both pretty tired from that. Beef flicks his tail as he shows Etho to the guest house, “You can stay here.”

“Thanks, Beef,” Etho says, his tails wrapping around his waist as he smiles up at his friend. 

Beef carefully kneels down and hugs him, “No problem.” 

As Etho gets ready to go to bed the slight ache fades away. Not really questioning it he falls asleep. A few hours later he wakes up and lays where he is for a few minutes. Something feels off, but he can’t quite place his finger on it. 

Rolling to his feet he yelps as he falls a lot further than he expected. Landing on all fours he winces as his legs bend awkwardly. Letting out a nervous chitter he looks down at himself. Four legs, all covered in a thick layer of snow-white fur. Whimpering he tucks his paws over his head. 

Struggling to stand he barks out a cry. He continues to bark and cry out for help. After almost thirty minutes the sound of hooves against concrete sounds. Pushing himself into a sitting position he yelps a little louder. 

“Calm down, calm down, I've got you,” Beef murmurs as he cautiously picks the small fox up. Etho’s dual tails curling around his arm.

Etho chirps and nuzzles into the centaur’s shoulder. Walking slowly back into his house Beef deposits the shaking fox onto his bed. Carefully he lays down on his side. He lets Etho clumsily make his way onto his back and they fall asleep.

The next morning Etho yawns and wiggles off of Beef’s back. He slowly makes his way up to his head. Raising a paw he bops Beef's face.

“Hm?” Beef mutters as he wakes up. He blinks confused for a moment before he remembers. Standing up he carefully picks the fox and brings him over to the kitchen table.

Setting him down at one end Beef sets a pile of sweet berries at the other. Etho narrows his eyes. He sees what Beef’s doing. On shaking legs he stands, one paw after another he slowly painstakingly makes it to the berries. 

As he makes it to the berries, he sits down and flicks his tails around himself. Carefully he leans down and takes one. 

Beef grins and takes one, “I’m going to call Doc.”

Etho nods as he carefully tries to stand. This time he manages to successfully walk around on the table. He jumps off and crashes into the floor. With a yelp, he carefully stands back up. 

Slowly he pads after Beef, his claws clicking softly against the stone floors. As he follows after him he notices something kinda odd. The pads of his paws have fur covering them. He makes a confused huffing noise and continues his exploration.

He stops following Beef and wanders off on his own. Marveling at the cyberpunk city Etho slinks along the edge of the street. After a while, he turns a corner and comes face to face with Doc. 

He makes an excited gicker, turns tail, and bolts. Doc runs after him in an attempt to catch the runaway fox. Etho stops at the bend in the road and looks back. Once Doc is a few feet away he takes off again and runs. This happens again and again until he starts to get tired.

He makes it out of city limits before he stops and waits for Doc to catch up once again. He looks back as he runs and ends up falling head over heels into the original fox hole.

Placing his paws on the wall he scratches and whimpers, the funs gone. Looking up he shrinks back under the careful scrutiny of the creeper’s robotic eye. 

“Etho,” Doc hisses at the small fox before jumping down and attaching a lead to him then clambering out of the hole.

Naturally, Etho lets out an offended screech and starts trying to get the lead off in every single way he can think of.

Doc sighs, “I know you don’t like it but you keep running away. You scared Beef when he couldn’t find you.”

Pinning his ears back in shame Etho spits the lead out and stops struggling to be free. 

“I’ll let you go… When we get inside.”

Etho glares at Doc annoyed but accepts his fate.

……..

After much trial and error, Etho makes it back to being human. Granted he still has his ears and tails but other than that he’s back to the normal mask-wearing ninja. He’s found that shapeshifting doesn’t hurt and is actually really fun. The biggest downside, in his eyes at least, is the fact that he’s pretty small in his fox form. To everyone else the downside is the already sneaky man is now twice as stealthy.

It’s a few days later when they notice the next problem. He’s currently at his base in the upside-down and is still slightly achy. Today he’s working with Grian on the main mansion of upside down.

“Etho?” Grian starts, fluttering his feathers nervously, “Your shadow’s a fox.”

Etho looks down at his shadow which in the soft glow of the lava is slightly fuzzy around the edges and sure enough, there is the silhouette of a fox, “Hu, that’s fun.”

Grian rolls his eyes, “Yeah. Let’s finish this up then head back.”

Nodding Etho expertly navigates the complex Redstone of the upside-down. At one point he’s almost falling and he uses his tails to balance. After he fixes the issues he floats down using his elytra and the pair start the long walk back to the main hub.

After almost thirty minutes Grian motions for Etho to stop.

“You ok?” Etho asks, growing concerned.

“It’s nothing, it’s just pretty hard to walk for long periods of time,” He explains as he moves his talons awkwardly.

Etho nods sharply and pulls the bird on his back, “You should have said something.”

“I didn’t want anyone to worry…”

“How, did you get over here before?”

“I normally go over the nether roof.”

Etho hums in response, “You have hollow bones?”

“Yeah,” Grian chirps softly. 

Nodding Etho continues walking. They continue to chat as they slowly make their way down the narrow tunnel. 

About halfway to the nether hub, Etho stops. He carefully crouches down allowing Grian to climb off his back.

“Are you ok?” Grian chirps nervously, his feathers ruffle up in concern. 

Etho turns and mumbles through his mask with words slurring together, “My jaw started hurting, I’m not sure why,” His ears press down against his head, and with tails in between his legs, he looks over at Grian, “Tell no one,” and slips his mask down. He pulls his communicator out and uses the mirror function to take a look at his teeth. 

They appear to be sharpening and getting longer. Etho swallows nervously as he pulls his mask back on, “We need to hurry.”

He grabs Grian and sprints the rest of the way back to the hub. The moment they exit into a larger tunnel Grian takes off flying just above Etho before stopping him, “We’re still like twenty minutes away if you're running.”

Seeing what Grian’s getting at Etho nods, after a moment of concentration he shrinks down into his fox form. Fur spread from his tails and ears, completely covering him. Bones seem to crackle as he shrinks to the size of a large house cat, his face pulls out and after a moment he’s a fox with one blood red eye.

Grian carefully scoops him up and takes off for Doc’s base. Etho huddles close to the bird's chest as he swoops down landing in front of the correct nether portal. 

Stepping through the portal Doc jumps back slightly before stepping forward and taking Etho from Grian, “Thanks man, he sent me a message telling me you were coming.”

Grian nods before saying goodbye and running out of the half house. As he reaches the hillside he jumps into the air and flaps back to his base. 

With a soft pop, Etho turns back to being human, “That was exhausting.”

Doc nods, “I’m sure it was now what’s changed?”

Taking a breath Etho explains, “While we were working Grian noticed my shadow is still a fox. As we made our way back my teeth sharpened into fangs,” He pulls his mask off and opens his mouth allowing Doc to look at the sharpened teeth.

As he brings his hand up to fix the mask Doc catches his wrist and pulls his hand close to his face, “You’ve got claws.”

Etho facepalms, “Great.”

…..

Etho sits at the edge of his base and idly swings his legs. He’s pulled his tails into his lap and is in the process of carefully picking through them removing bits of dust and debris. 

A slight rustle of the leaves in the nearby trees draws his attention. Narrowing his eyes he squints at the trees. His ears prick up and swivel around to look for the source of the noise. 

Finding nothing he carefully stands up and walks into his ender chest sorting room. The air seems to shimmer slightly as a small light flicks on. 

Staring at the laser Etho raises an eyebrow, “Are you serious?”

A distorted voice from somewhere above his head answers, “No.”

“Hi Exy,” Etho chirps.

Exy fades into the visible spectrum and moves the laser in a circle. Tracking it with his eyes Etho growls softly as he prepares to pounce. He jumps at the small dot.

His tails wave slowly behind him as he pops into his fox form. Then Exy has a real run for his money. Etho is keeping up etho the laser a little too well and is getting kinda disappointed when he misses. Thinking fast Exy makes a small red illusion appear under his paws.

He looks up at Exy and pops back into his human form. Taking a moment to adjust his headband Etho casually strolls up to him. Exy slowly floats down and hovers just a few inches of the ground.

Grinning Etho snatches the laser pointer and runs.

Exy screeches, “Give it back!”

“Nope, you’ll have to catch me,” With that Etho turns into a fox, grabs the laser pointer in the teeth and darts off into the night. 

Exy frowns as he slumps down at the kitchen table, “He just took off with.”

Nodding Xisuma listens to his brother’s complaint, “Etho brought it back this morning, it’s on the counter over there.”

…...

As the full moon glitters overhead, Etho hums as he works on his base. Somewhere off to the side in the forest a twig snaps. Etho’s ears swivel around looking for something, “Exy, if that’s you…”

Instead of the trickster, a large brown wolf pads up. Ren flops down near Etho and gives a quiet bark. He kneels down and pets his head. 

Ren bumps his head against his leg and stands up. He runs up to Etho’s base and comes back. He jumps around and starts trying to play with him.

Laughing Etho shifts into the fox form and starts running. Every so often looking back to make sure Ren’s still following. Making an excited gicker Etho runs up onto a rock and wags his tails excitedly. He yelps loudly as Ren stops, his ears flicking. 

Ren pads up to him as a growl echoes through the trees. A pack of wolves steps out from the trees. Ren steps protectively over Etho as the other wolves circle around them. Slowly crouching down Ren gently bites down on the back of Etho’s neck, he picks him up carefully and bolts.

The other wolves give chase and Ren desperately tries to lose them. Dodging through trees the wolf pack snaps at Ren. Etho is completely terrified and scrunches up as small as he can. Ren runs along the base of one of Xisuma’s towers. He jumps on the road leading to Keralis’s base. They pass the farm then there in the city. The wolves don’t follow them. 

They stop next to the gas station. Setting Etho down Ren flops down as well. Etho lays down next to him and leans against Ren’s side shaking. After a few minutes, they get up and try to find Keralis. Etho hops onto Ren’s back and they set off. 

Etho presses himself into the werewolf’s thick fur and sighs to himself. That was probably one of the most terrifying things he’s ever experienced. Excluding the spider incident. The events that followed that couldn’t be rivaled in terror.

Ren snuffs around a little bit before stopping before a door. He paws at it before barking loudly trying to get Keralis’ attention. 

A thump is heard from above as Keralis stumbles to the door, as he opens it he spots Ren. Opening the door wider Keralis lets him in, “Are you ok?”

With a nod, Ren gestures to the small fox clinging onto his back.

“Etho?” Keralis buzzes curiously.

The fox looks up and nods. His tails curling around himself. 

Keralis seems to melt, he gently picks him up and motions for Ren to follow him.

The Exhausted wolf follows after. Keralis leads him into the kitchen. He places Etho on the counter and pulls out a bit of chicken and gives it to Ren. Etho yawns as Keralis places a few berries next to him. Chirping thankfully Etho eats the berries. Keralis grins, “What mess did get into this time.”

Ren shuffles a bit embarrassed, his ears flattening back against his head. Keralis giggles and pats his head, “Tell me in the morning.”

By now Etho’s flicked his tails over his eyes and is now fast asleep, curled up on the counter. Keralis looks at his visitors, “I’m going back to sleep, if you need me you know where to find me.”

As the sun rises he moons hold on Ren fades and he turns back into the mostly human form that he’s normally in. Seeing Ren turn back Etho turns back as well.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Ren says his ears flattening against his head.

“Dude, you saved me there, I would have found those wolves eventually,” As he talks his tails flare out.

As Keralis walks around the corner his wings flutter, “What do you want for breakfast? I want to know what happened.”

Ren and Etho look at each other, nod, and answer simultaneously, “Pancakes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I you liked this please comment


	3. Paw Prints

Etho grins as he carefully picks his way over to Joe’s base. He’s heading over to the winery to repay him for the stolen sweet berries.

As he arrives Joe grins as he hands him a few stacks of bones, “Thanks.”

“No problem, I did go a little crazy there.”

Joe laughs, “You're fine, I have more berries than I know what to do with.”

Grinning Etho leans against a tree, “Your fields are impressive.”

“Why thank you.”

The conversation continues for a while as they walk around the building. They enter the winery and sit down at a table.

The doors shutter open banging against the walls as Cleo kicks them open, “Joe, you need to see this.”

With a slight screech, Joe jumps back as Etho flattens his ears against his head. 

“Sorry bout that,” She nods to Etho, turning to Joe she grins, “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” She holds out a small model of a centipede.

“Yes Cleo that’s very cool,” Joe laughs, “Etho, are you ok?”

“Uh, yeah. That just spooked me,” He reaches up and rubs at his ears. 

Cleo looks over and frowns, “What kind of stuff has happened?”

“Uh, I’ve got the ears, tails, fangs, and claws.”

Humming softly Cleo shakes her head, “Besides that, you’re a kitsune right?

Etho nods a bit confused, “Yeah.”

“I mean what happened besides the physical transformation.”

“Oh, I like the sweet berries, I’ll make fox sounds, I can turn into a fox and I think that’s it so far.”

Joe raises an eyebrow, “So far?”

“Doc thinks the physical stuff is over and I’ll just be getting other stuff now.”

Cleo leans over and carefully pokes at his tails, “Dude, they’re so fluffy.”

“I know right it’s really cool.”

Standing Joe motions for them to follow him, “Do you want to help me with feeding the dogs?”

“Sure,” Cleo says as she elbows Etho who nods hesitantly.

The three head out towards the dog park. Etho narrows his eyes as he remembers the events of a few nights before. He continues in silence occasionally jumping into the conversation. As they walk his tails curl up and he holds them close to his body. 

Joe unlocks the door and they head in. Etho is expectedly cautious. As they step in a few of the dogs run up and bark. One jumps up onto Etho and attempts to lick his face. 

Startled Etho backs up, his tails flicking. His brown eye glows red as a small chicken appears out of nowhere and runs through the dog park. The dogs are distracted.

“Did you do that?” Joe asks Etho who’s starring confused at the chicken.

“I think I might have,” Etho murmurs as he walks closer to the mystery chicken, “I don't know how I would have done this though.”

Cleo grins, “You made an illusion, you are kitsune. Mythology wise they had the ability to make illusions.”

“That makes sense,” Etho muters turning away from the chicken, “They get more powerful the more tails they have, right?”

“Yep, the most powerful have nine tails,” Joe explains as he shoos the dogs over to the food bowls.

“Good thing foxtails are mostly floof.” Cloe cackles.

Wide-eyed Etho nods, “Very good thing.”

“You don't think he’ll get more tails as time goes by do you?” Joe muses, he runs a hand through his hair as he thinks. 

“Probably,” Cleo shrugs, she turns to Etho, “You’ve got two tails and illusions, you'll probably get more tails.”

Etho looks back at his tails, “Oh, that's, fun.”

“It won't happen for a long time,” Joe grins, “It would normally take years. With how the meteor accelerates things you'll probably have a few months between tails.”

Deadpan Etho stares at Joe, “Joy.”

………

The shopping district is normally a pretty busy place, so Etho’s been hanging around there for a while. He’s there because Doc is trying to figure out what the meteor is going to do next and he wanted him to stick around. In case he found something important.

As Etho wanders around the district he runs into TFC. The pair strike up a conversation and Etho follows him on his shopping trip.

“So, how’s your base going?” Etho asks as his tails flick happily.

TFC grins, “It's going pretty well, I didn't except water columns to be so finicky,”

Nodding Etho agrees, “It is pretty tedious, every single block has to be a source block.”

“Yeah, it's not that easy,” TFC laughs. 

Smiling Etho flicks one of his ears. TFC nods, “Do you know where I can find some wool?”

“Uh, yeah, it's over this way,” Etho says as he leads TFC over to the Bone Zone’s wool shop.

“Thank you.”

“It's not a problem.”

The conversation continues for a while, it ends rather abruptly when Doc messages Etho telling him to get to the town hall.

“It’s been wonderful talking to you, but I must go,” Etho says dramatically as he pops a chorus fruit into his mouth. He bites down on it, and nothing happens, “Uhh, bye?” Etho pops into his fox form and runs up to the town hall.

Laughing TFC continues on his way, not the weirdest thing he’s seen with all the affected hermits. That probably would have been that one time about a week ago when Zedaph, Tango, and Impulse had managed to fall in some bushes and Zedaph was really freaked out about something. 

They couldn’t figure out why Zedaph was so freaked out until a few minutes later. Doc had flown by, to check up on how Tango was doing. He landed on the ground next to Tango. He wrinkled his nose up when he smelt the weird plant they had gotten into. Now TFC never got the full story but apparently, it repels creepers and it was making Doc freak out. Zedaph was panicking because when a creeper panics, it normally ends in explosions.

Rolling his eyes TFC looks back at the shopping district. 

Etho almost stumbles over his paws as he jumps up the steps of the town hall. Grumbling slightly he turns back into his human form, “Doc? Are you in here?”

“Over here,” He calls from one of the offices, “Sit down, we need to talk.”

Etho balks nervously, “Is this about the meteor, or is it about the whole Goatfather thing?”

“Meteor,” Doc grumbles, “We have a problem.”

Sitting down Etho’s ears flick back, “Explain.”

“The problem is you're not just turning into a Fox, you’re a kitsune. They weren’t people that had the ability to turn into Foxes. They were foxes that could turn into people.”

“I see how that’s an issue,” Etho murmurs, “What’s going to happen?”

Doc huffs slightly, “So far all I can tell is your default respawn form is going to be the fox.”

“So if I die I’ll turn into the fox and have to turn back?”

“Yes, but I expect your instincts will get stronger and you might act more like a fox than human.”

Etho shrugs, “It’ll be fine.”

Nodding Doc agrees although he couldn’t help but worry. Etho’s just a little too accepting about what’s happening, it’s not morbid fascination and he’s not resigned to what’s happening either. It’s a little concerning.

As the conversation continues it shifts to decked out. Etho is very excited to run the dungeon again, it’s got the black market now. 

Grudgingly Doc follows him to the giant ravager head, “You really should wait until the meteor goes dormant.”

“But the others will get so far ahead,” Etho chirps as he jokingly flattens his ears.

Doc hisses slowly, “If you get stuck as a fox…”

“I’ll be fine, even if I die to the ravagers I’ll just respawn.”

“Yeah, as a fox.”

Etho shrugs as he prepares to walk into the dungeon. Doc sits back and watches as he enters, it looks like he’s just going to have to learn from experience.

As he slowly makes his way through the game he seems to be doing pretty well. He’s getting soul flames and a decent amount of loot. Once he gets the loot box token he starts making his way out.

On his way back he rounds a corner he comes face to face with a ravager, with a screech he disappears in a flurry of lavender colored particles, “That’s where the chorus fruit went. I can store it. Cool”

The ravager growls as he thumps forwards, “Right, how are ya doing, Cuddles?” Etho murmurs as he turns tail and bolts. The ravager is hot on his heels as he stumbles through the dungeon. He enters the stone swamp area and runs right into another ravager. With a roar the ravagers kill him before tearing his body apart, it’s a brutal cycle. After a few seconds, his body fades into shadows as he respawns.

Blinking Etho groans softly looking around he realizes two things, He’s not in Decked Out and he’s oddly small. He carefully rolls to his paws, “Doc was right,” he mutters to himself before hoping down and padding off to find out where he is. He stays close to the ground and the walls.

He only makes it a few feet out of the room before a cold hand plucks him up, “Where do you think you're going?”

Etho squirms around trying to find the hermits face. As he blinks up at the face he squirms out of his hands and pops into his human form, “Hey, Biffa.”

“Hey Etho, come back over here. Doc’s going to be back soon.”

“What happened? I lost Decked Out and now I’m here?” He asks as he follows Biffa.

“You were still asleep after you respawned. You were also a fox so Doc was able to pick you up and bring you here. You're at my base.”

Etho looks around and nods, “You seem pretty fried, how long was I out?”

“It was only a few hours, nothing too drastic.”

One of the doors swings open and Doc stumbles in, “Etho you’re up.”

“Yo.”

“When you were stuck in respawn the meteor flared and went dormant again, I think it may have given you all your instincts at once.”

“And that wouldn’t be good,” Etho deadpans, “Something’s different about the meteor. It’s like he’s getting bolder.”

Doc nods, “I’ve noticed that. I don’t like this.”

…..

In the few days since the weird respawn, Doc and Etho have been trying to figure out what’s been happening. So far they haven’t had much luck. The only new thing they found out is Etho has a slight tendency to shake his fur dry. Which of course annoys everyone else. 

As Doc wanders into Etho’s base he hisses angrily.

Yelping Etho shouts, “I didn’t do it!”

“I know you didn’t,” The creeper grumbles, “I was talking to Hypno and Max, they think Xb’s next.”

Etho frowns, “Not good.”

“It’s not, I need you to come with me.”

“Why?”

“I’m heading to Xb’s base. I want you to come with me. I do have a reason but I can’t actually tell you.”

Shrugging Etho agrees and follows Doc into the nether. 

As they approach the towering mega stuchser floating above the shattered savana. Doc pulls Etho through the town and towards the floating base.

Upon entering they find Xb nervously pacing around the room. Biffa is standing nearby frowning softly.

“Breathe,” Biffa instructs as Xb panics.

Xb slumps down next to his guardian tank and groans into his hands, “I don’t think this is going to end well.”

Doc walks over and brings the smaller man into a hug, “We can’t be sure that you’re going to be affected.”

Nodding Etho sits down next to him, carefully wrapping him in his tails, “Whatever happens, we won’t let you get hurt.”

Pulling Xb up Doc grins, “So, let's see what have you been doing?”

Thankful for the distraction Xb smiles and starts showing the others around his base.

“Thank you,” Biffa tells Doc, “He’s been like that since we heard he might be next.”

Doc nods and turns his attention to Etho, he’s hugging the wall as he walks around the base. Carefully flicking his ears so he can hear better. His tails are flicking softly as he looks at the incredible base. He’s not talking as much as he normally is either.

He pulls out his communicator and shoots some of his Watcher friends a message, asking them about how foxes behave in new places.

A few minutes later he receives an answer. One of the Watchers sends him a response, saying that foxes are pretty cautious new places and wouldn’t make much noise. Satisfied by the answer Doc continues listening to Xb ramble on about his base.

……

Doc jokingly glares at Etho as he crawls under one of his ice farms mechanisms to fix something, “You done yet?”

“Not quite, I need to reattach this thing.” 

Sitting down in the snow near Etho Doc shivers, “I will never understand why you like the cold.”

One of his tails flicks at Doc, “It’s better than being too hot.”

“Naa, if it’s too hot you just find water,” Doc grins, “It’s not fun when you shrivel up.”

“Not all of us are plants…” Etho murmurs from his spot under the redstone.

Doc bursts out laughing, “Fair.”

Laughing, Etho wiggles out from underneath his redstone, one of his ears is splattered with redstone dust, “So… what was that?”

“What was, what?”

“Shush, I heard it again,” His ears swivel looking for the source of the noise.

Doc stops moving and listens.

Etho carefully moves, his tails flaring out. Something shifts the snow a few feet away. Etho looks over and starts running towards the nearby snowdrift. As he jumps at the mouse, he turns into a fox. With the mouse clamped in his teeth, he proudly pads over to Doc.

Doc scoops him up and gently forces him to open his mouth and free the mouse, “You can’t just eat that.”

Shaking his head Etho looks completely disgusted, he pops into his human form, “That’s awful.”

“The taste or the fact that you almost ate a mouse?” Doc asks as he watches Etho repeatedly wash his mouth out.

Looking up Etho flicks his ears back, “Both.”

Doc laughs, “You caught the mouse, first try. Good job.”

“Are you mocking me?” Etho shoots back in a mock offended tone.

“Of course not. I’m actually very impressed with how fast you caught the mouse.”

“Oh, ok,” He chirps as he walks back over to the snowdrift and falls backward into the snow.

Doc rolls his eyes and polls him up, “Let’s go, you're done with the Redstone and it’s really cold.”

Etho pouts mockingly as he follows Doc into the nether, “You never let me do anything.”

Laughing Doc ushers him back to his base, “I’ll be back tomorrow don’t try anything. I want to get a full description of what’s happened.”

Shooting Doc a thumbs up Etho nods, “Will do.”

As he starts falling asleep, his tails flick nervously. Brushing whatever’s bothering him off; he doesn’t really know what’s happening, he falls asleep. By the time he wakes up it’s late morning. 

Yawning he starts getting ready for the day and gets some food. Wandering aimlessly he ends up at the entrance of his base. Gingerly he shifts into the fox. 

Doc shows up a few minutes later and they head inside, they have a lot to go over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s a wrap, next up will be something very special. It will be the 28th when I upload and if you look that’s when I started writing the Meteor Effect. It’s been almost a year, and I’m proud of what I’ve created.
> 
> If you’ve enjoyed reading please leave a comment. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be moved to Wednesday’s in October because I started writing this on the 28th last year and I want to make something special for it.
> 
> If you’ve enjoyed please leave a comment.


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